Future Releases

This disc contains everything any music lover could wish, from the sounds of a ballad played on the mediaeval crumhorn, through to bagpipe sounding saxophones reminiscent of the Celtic tradition, to blues-like shuffle beats performed on an overtone drone-flute. The arrangements are tailor made and so are the choices of inspired soloists; everything fits together perfectly.

Ale Möller and Bohuslän Big Band take us in their time machine on a musical journey over a large part of the globe, painting fantastic pictures of music as a border- crossing, peace-making and healing force.

These sonatas belong to the lesser known and less often performed violin sonatas of Johann Sebastian Bach.

1 SACD + DVD

"Try to imagine the whole universe beginning to ring and resound. There are no more human voices, only planets and suns revolving in their orbits," wrote Gustav Mahler to his friend, Willem Mengelberg, on 18 August 1906. The day before, he had completed the sketches of the Eighth Symphony in little more than three weeks, and that after a very hectic season.

The legendary relationship between Gustav Mahler, the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and Willem Mengelberg has established a firm tradition of playing Mahler in Amsterdam. During the 1960s the orchestra and Bernard Haitink started recording a Mahler discography that still remains one of the cornerstones of any Mahlerian's collection. Ricccardo Chailly's tenure as chief conductor yielded another brilliant Mahler cycle and now Mariss Jansons is steadily building his tribute to the composer.

Recorded during the same Mahler cycle as the recently released Symphonies Nos. 2 and 3 – part of the full Mahler cycle that the orchestra performed in the 2009-2011 seasons to celebrate the composer's 150th birthday and 100th anniversary of his death - Mariss Jansons's interpretation of the Eight Symphony is one more jewel in the crown of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; with a star-studded cast and excellent choral forces, this 'Symphony of a Thousand' left a lasting impression on the audience.

The liturgical year with Johann Sebastian Bach: Rondeau Production is publishing a ten-part CD series which presents a selection of cantatas for the liturgical year. In Leipzig, music for the liturgical year has an especially well kept tradition: up to the present day the Thomanerchor Leipzig (St Thomas’s Boys Choir) and the Gewandhausorchester (Gewandhaus Orchestra) join forces each week in the performance of one of Johann Sebastian Bach’s cantatas at the church of St Thomas.

The current disc in the series turns to feasts for the Blessed Virgin Mary: the cantata “Mit Fried und Freud ich fahr dahin” was composed in 1725 for the feast of Mary’s Purification, and Johann Sebastian Bach wrote “Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern” for the feast of the Annunciation in the same year. The famous chorale “Jesus bleibet meine Freude” forms part of the cantata “Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben”. This composition originally set a different text, and was intended for the fourth Sunday of Advent. After a number of modifications to the text, the cantata was performed in Leipzig on the feast of the Visitation also in 1725. The cantata’s opening chorus gains its particularly festive character through the initial trumpet motif.

The current cantor at St Thomas, Georg Christoph Biller, is fortunate to have boys from the choir’s own ranks performing the soprano and alto solos; a hallmark of the new recording’s unique level of artistry.

SFZ MUSIC, the independent label for HIS MAJESTYS SAGBUTTS & CORNETTS, are pleased to announce their latest release, the first recording on the label by the stellar young viola da gambist, Claire Bracher.

As well as being greatly in demand throughout Europe as a soloist and ensemble player, Claire teaches at the Royal College of Music in London, where she has founded an annual International Festival of Viols. She has also founded and edits the new early music magazine Musica Antiqua.

This collection of sonatas by the baroque master of the instrument, Georg Philipp Telemann, is the perfect showcase for Claire’s talents. Her playing is laden with the charm, wit and elegance so necessary for Telemann’s music, yet simultaneously infused with a rigorous intellectual and historically informed approach. Ensemble Labyrinthe consists of some of the best instrumentalists working in the UK and adds a great variety of colour and texture to this enchanting recording.

Sony Classical celebrates the 85th anniversary of pianist Leon Fleisher with the release of ‘The Complete Album Collection’.

Leon Fleisher is considered a living legend among the coterie of distinguished American pianists who emerged in the late forties and early fifties. Students consider Fleisher the “Obi-Wan Kenobi of the piano,” and travel from all over the globe come to work with him or even just sit on his master classes.

On the podium, Fleisher championed a wide range of new music, starting with the Washington DC-based Theater Chamber Players, and later as the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s associate conductor. Fleisher also introduced innovative curriculum ideas during his respective artistic director tenures at the Tanglewood and Aspen music centers.

However, it was the piano that brought Fleisher into the public eye. A child prodigy who became Artur Schnabel’s youngest student at age ten, Fleisher went on to win first prize at the 1952 Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels, launching a major international career on the concert platform and recording studio.

In the mid-sixties, the onset of what was later diagnosed as focal dystonia in the right hand forced Fleisher to curtail his playing. As Fleisher sought a variety of remedies, he resumed concertizing with repertoire for left hand.

In a certain sense, the present complete collection of Fleisher’s recordings for Sony Classical and its predecessors (Epic and Columbia Masterworks) demarcates the personal and musical twists and turns of his career journey.

We hear Fleisher soon after his Brussels victory, followed by his now iconic Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, Schumann and Grieg concerto collaborations with George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra, along with highly acclaimed solo recordings.

Two discs represent Fleisher at the peak of his later career playing concertos and recitals for the left hand.

Lastly, Fleisher’s formidable gifts as a Mozart player as revealed in his C major K 503 concerto recording yielded further bounty with his two-handed return a half-century later in the K 242, K 414 and K 488 concertos featured on the collection’s most recent release.

As long as one can access recordings, the very sound of Fleisher’s musical legacy will continue to stand the test of time, and continue to enliven and stimulate music lovers and budding pianists.

Following the release of Sospiro's first CD - Rob Buckland's highly acclaimed collection of saxophone concerti Gameshow - comes our second, The Music of Joanna, the debut album of the exciting new singer/songwriter Jack Omer. This album of original songs by Jack performed by himself with a band of first rate musicians and produced by Neill MacColl is launched on 17 June with an extensive live performance, radio and publicity campaign.

“He is the 'real thing' - an artist who can combine intensely moving lyric-writing with musical settings that have a memorable, inspired simplicity. That simplicity is the hardest thing to find in music - and Jack has it in abundance” John Harle

Jack’s smoky vocals, sympathetic guitar and piano, adorn this collection of original songs, the songs have a light musical feel, that draws its roots from strands of folk, country and Americana, but one that belies the depth of the lyric writing and the subtle beauty of the song melodies. Some of the songs are about deeply personal experiences, others reflect periods of mental and emotional turmoil. There are also fictional narratives whose fiction tells some truths.